Seth (T2)
From slave, to house-mate of a revolutionary, to a house keeper, to a firefighter, to a father, to a revolutionary himself, Seth has done more in a few years than many people have in their entire lifetimes. Life as a Slave Seth was a slave from birth. He served mostly as manual labor during his time as a slave, and was sold a total of three times. The first time was when he was a mere kitten. Growing up under that master he fell in love with another slave and married her in secret. Working their hardest, Seth had hoped that if they served faithfully, their master would give them a pass to go on leave for a day or two. Seth saved his meager pay in anticipation of that day he and his wife could go on leave, and planned to do all sorts of things with her. He must have imagined the perfect dress to buy her a thousand times. After a couple years, Seth gathered up his nerves and requested the pass from his master. Seth's master was a cruel man, and refused him his pass, and because of his asking began to treat Seth harshly. Burdened under the pressure of demands he could not meet, he decided to run away. His wife tried to talk him out of it, but in the end Seth convinced his wife to run away with him. The two did not get far. They were captured swiftly and when he was returned to his master in chains, his master had them both beaten with barbed whips. Seth asked that he take his wife's lashes. He shouldn't have asked that. After he asked that, his master made Seth watch as his wife was hit over and over again. Catfolks' fur may hide the scars on their backs, but nothing can hide the scars they bear on the inside. He then had the mark of a runaway burned on his tongue and his wife's, and he then had them sold at auction - separately. Seth was crushed. He felt responsible for his wife's fate given that he had convinced her to run away when she didn't want to. How many times after that had he wished he had only listened to his wife, and not have run. If he had listened to her, she wouldn't have had to be punished, and they could still be together. Unfortunately Seth hadn't seen the worst of his actions yet. He was sold without much pomp and circumstance as a strong-back, but Seth knew his wife's fate was to be worse. She spoke well, and was an attractive Catfolk, too attractive to be a field slave. But with a runaway mark, and a sliced up back she wasn't pretty enough to be a house-cat (slaves that served in their masters homes as servants). She was to be sold as a a comfort girl. Seth was crushed. Not a day went by where Seth wasn't burdened by guilt, and not a day went by where he didn't think on her. After several more years of slavery, his master had in mind to sell him at the next auction in Korhal. He was taken to the capital and sold, but the person who bought him wasn't like any of his other masters... Freedom Seth was eyeing each Catfolk being sold, ever vigilant and hopeful that he'd spot his wife. He didn't. What he did spy was a man who stood out. To anyone else he blended in, but to Seth he stood out like a pool of red blood in the middle of a snowy field. This is because at an auction everyone is busy, selling and buying, haggling and yelling, exchanging money and bills of sale, and the one thing that people don't do at an auction is nothing. And this man... was doing nothing. If Seth wasn't so busy looking for his wife, he would have noticed that the man watched as one by one Catfolk were being sold and bought until Seth came on the block. It was at this point the man got up and strolled up to the bidding area, and bid on Seth. Every time someone would bid on Seth, this man would outbid them. Seeing the gumption with which this man would bid on Seth, people stopped bidding, and in that way he won the bid and became the owner of Seth. Seth was brought over to this man, and the man looked at him with an angry face. The man addressed Seth, "You're free now." Seth was taken aback. He didn't know what to say whether through shock or through years of training to keep his words to himself. All he could do was stare back at the man. "What's wrong? I said you're free," the man addressed Seth. Seth responded, "I... I don't know what to do." "You're free, you can do whatever you like," the man responded. Seth stopped to think for a moment, then looked up at the man and said, "Then I want to go with you. Can I do that?" The man raised an eyebrow and for the first time changed his expression, "Why would you want to be with me?" Seth replied, "Because I can't imagine a better person to be with, than the kind of man who'd buy a slave just to free him." The man turned and began walking away from the slave block and said, "You're a free cat now, I won't stop you from doing whatever you want, Mr. Free Cat." Seth smiled for the first time in a long time and ran to catch up with the man saying, "Seth, the name's Seth." "I don't care," came the man's reply. And with that, Seth was free. Housemate to a Prince At first Seth didn't know what to do with his freedom. He knew how to do one thing and one thing well - and that was manual labor. He attempted to get a job, but found it impossible for a free Catfolk to get one. All the jobs anyone was willing to let a Catfolk do, could be done much cheaper by a slave. Seth felt stuck. He then turned his attention to his liberator. He offered to be his personal assistant. Guy accepted and payed him a fair wage. With that, Seth had a place to stay, money to spend, a job to do, and free time to have all within the first week of being freed. With his freedom, Seth wanted to learn. He had been denied an education as a slave, and now wanted it more than ever. Guy informed him of the free library Korhal had and Seth took advantage of it. He read books upon books on every subject. In this way he learned many things - cooking was one of his favorites and every day he would have something new and interesting on the table for dinner for him and Guy. It wasn't the best life, but it was more than Seth ever had before. Seth quickly learned he was more than free. Guy had some weird sense of the word 'freedom' that gave Seth power over his liberator. Guy's version of freedom meant that Seth could not only do whatever he wanted without being harassed by Guy, but that he wouldn't refuse Seth any request. This combined with Seth's roll as personal assistant, allowed him to become Guy's confidant. He asked Guy why he freed him. Guy and Mana told him everything. Seth learned of Guy's past, why he was doing what he was doing now, and what his future plans were (See Valerian Mengsk for more info.) - things that Guy would tell no one and let them live. Slowly Seth began to understand more about what kind of man Guy was, and it scared Seth. Seth had seen the world as black and white. Some people were good and others evil. This was the first case that Seth came across where there was a grey area. On one hand, Guy was a violent individual willing to kill innocent people at the drop of a hat. On the other hand he was the kind of guy that would randomly free a Catfolk, and Mana, who was very white, believed in him. The biggest point of contention between the two was Guy's philosophy that the ends always justify the means. Seth starkly refused to see his point of view and called Guy a monster for what he had done and was willing to do. Yet Seth continued to help him in his ventures in some sort of misplaced loyalty for the man who gave him his freedom; and Seth did enjoy their discussions, even if they always ended up in yelling matches. Seth got the feeling, however, that if Guy did not put him in such a unique position to never be refused anything, Guy would have killed him long ago for questioning his actions in such a disrespectful way. House Keeper When Guy came into power, he had so much to do he interacted with Seth very little. Having no place to go, and no friends, aside from the new Emperor and Empress, Seth didn't know what to do. Hanzo and his associates were the closest things to friends he had, so he tried to strike a deal. He offered Hanzo a deal, that he'd take care of his place, knowing that Hanzo was often away and his house would need looking after. In return Seth wanted no wages, only to be able to stay at the mansion, and enough gold for upkeep. Hanzo accepted. Seth often went above and beyond his duties as a house keeper, acting more like a butler than a custodian of an estate. He would often make meals and do other such things for Hanzo and the mansion's denizens but only once did Hanzo make the mistake of expecting it from Seth. Seth had gotten up late one morning instead of having breakfast prepared before Hanzo and his friends woke up, as he often did. Hanzo asked Seth why breakfast hadn't been prepared yet and Seth addressed Hanzo saying, "You and I have a deal. I take care of your house and you let me stay here. Now I haven't asked for a copper more than I need to maintain the house, and I am a free cat. I am NOT your slave, and I am NOT your butler. I serve on no-one anymore." Hanzo untypically apologized and the two never spoke of the incident again. Seth made breakfast, and ate with everyone else at the table as always. Firefighter Seth made sure that the deal included no more money than was required to maintain the mansion. Seth wanted to earn his own spending money. He didn't know quite why, but for some reason that he couldn't understand, he wanted to work as a free cat, at a job of his own choosing, and earn a wage. When he found out that a person could gain citizenship by working for The Empire as a firefighter, Seth knew exactly what he wanted to do. Through no small effort he got a job with the local department and began not only earning a living, but earning citizenship. It was though this job that Seth met Rin. Relationship with the Ruler Seth still visits Valerian and Mana from time to time, and he is one of the very few people who call Valerian by his alias, Guy. Category:Character Category:Major Category:T2 Category:Imperial __NOEDITSECTION__